Home
/
News
/

Putin threatens to invade Kyiv, deemed irrational by EU leaders, report says

Putin threatens to invade Kyiv, deemed irrational by EU leaders, report says

2 September 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to conquer the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv within two weeks in an Aug. 30 conversation with EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reported on Sept. 1, implying that could be the result if the EU stepped up sanctions against Russia. The comments were relayed by Barroso to his colleagues at an Aug. 30 EU summit, minutes after he spoke with Putin. When Barroso reportedly asked Putin about the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine, Putin responded with the threat. “That’s not the real problem,” Putin reportedly told Barroso. “If I want to, I can take Kyiv in two weeks.”

 

The West can’t consent to Putin’s demands in Ukraine, British Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly told the summit. “He has taken Crimea already,” he said. “We can’t allow him to take the whole country because repeating the mistakes that were made in 1938 in Munich. We don’t know what can happen afterwards.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Putin has failed to uphold his commitments made during their last talks. “Disregarding the efforts we made to have open diplomatic channels, Putin didn’t uphold his promises and has moved towards a military escalation,” she said, adding that Latvia and Estonia could next be targeted for conquest by Putin. The summit’s participants agreed that “there aren’t any limits any more to Putin’s unpredictability,” the report said. “He is no longer considered a rational player and his actions are driven by nationalism.”

 

The EU member-states most resisting increased pressure on Russia are Hungary, Slovakia and Cyprus, the La Repubblica report said. “These are countries that are highly dependant on Russian interests and fear that the escalation of sanctions and Russia’s economic response can tighten the noose around their necks,” the report said. The Baltic states urged the EU to support the Ukrainian army with arms, just as it did with the Kurds in Iraq.

 

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he doesn’t rule out the Russian government occupying Ukrainian territory in order to secure land access to the Crimean peninsula, according to an interview published by a German newspaper on Sept. 1. Currently, access to Crimea is only available by air and sea, and therefore very limited. “Russian land corridors would also violate international law and would be deserving of censure, just as Russia’s annexation of Crimea,” he said. Therefore, a Russian-Ukrainian war is a real threat, he said, which is why the EU decided to intensify economic and political pressure on Russia.

 

NATO announced on Sept. 1 it will build a new “spearhead” rapid reaction force of up to 4,000 troops that can be flown into eastern Europe in 48 hours to respond to possible Russian aggression, the London Telegraph reported on Sept. 1.

 

Zenon Zawada: Indeed predicting Putin’s next move is often beyond the limits of most political game theory, as he has persistently been breaking and changing the rules as he sees fit. We certainly agree that Russian nationalism is driving Putin, as well as his desire to restore Russia’s global prominence as his historical legacy.

 

We view his Kyiv threat as more of a long-term goal, something he’d like to achieve three or five years down the line. What deserves more attention is what was noted by Steinmeier: that a more immediate goal of Russian forces would be to take the land bridge along the Azov Sea, between Russia and the Crimean peninsula.

Latest News

News

23

02/2022

Separatists may claim entire territories of two Ukrainian regions

Russia has recognized “all fundamental documents” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR...

News

23

02/2022

U.K. to provide USD 500 mln loan guarantee for Ukraine as IMF mission starts

The British government is going to provide up to USD 500 mln in loan guarantees...

News

23

02/2022

MinFin bond auction receipts jump to UAH 3.5 bln

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry raised UAH 3.3 bln and EUR 7.2 mln (the total equivalent of...